Question proposed, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

This is quite a complicated clause, which contains technical language. I hope that the Minister will talk a bit about it and not let it pass by without comment. Reference is made—in the explanatory notes, at least—to the appointment of medical inspectors under the Immigration Act, and I would be grateful if the Minister could talk us through

how the clause will affect the immigration service, and particularly the medical inspectorate.

On that specific point—I have a lot of detail on other points, but I shall not go through them, because the hon. Gentleman did not raise them—subsection (3) provides for one of the changes proposed in schedule 3 to come into effect two months after Royal Assent. That will enable the Secretary of State to delegate the appointment of medical inspectors under the Immigration Act to the National Assembly for Wales or the Health Protection Agency special health authority and, subsequently, the agency established by the Bill. The purpose is simply to take forward the arrangements that we discussed under schedule 3 for changing who will agree to the appointments of those identified for posts.

Subsections (1) and (2) provide for the Bill's remaining provisions to be brought into effect by order made by statutory instrument on such day or days that the Secretary of State may appoint, subject to prior consultation with those specified in subsection (4). They are standard provisions for commencement for which no parliamentary procedure is specified. Our aim is that the agency should come into being on 1 April 2005.

Question put and agreed to.

Clause 12 ordered to stand part of the Bill.